The Radio Broadcasting Students of Sydney TAFE Radio hosted a feature presentation program last week to celebrate the 120th Birthday of the TAFE – Sydney Institute.
Current and past radio students broadcast live to 13 campuses around Sydney and attempted to create a program reminiscent of the stations earliest programs. ABC Classic FM assisted with the historical emulation, contributing music from this period. Throughout the program interviews and conversations centred on the birth of TAFE in March 1891.
“When the doors first opened in 1891, no-one could have foreseen how important Sydney Institute would be in delivering vocational education to students, both here in Sydney and now around the world,” said Institute Director David Riordan.
“Over the past 120 years TAFE – Sydney Institute has seen nearly 1 million students walk through its doors. It has continually reinvented itself to work with industry and develop industry relevant courses to keep up with ever changing technology and skill demands. From meeting the needs of its original 3,500 students today TAFE – Sydney Institute sees 76,000 annual enrolments and has been fundamentally involved in changing hundreds of thousands of lives.”
In 18891 the then ‘Sydney Technical College’ opened its first building on the Ultimo Campus; the first permanent institution for technical education in NSW. The campus was the first site for several of Sydney’s leading education institutions including the Sydney Technical High School, University of Technology, Sydney and University of NSW.
This year, Sydney Institute launches its first TAFE NSW bachelor degree and offers 59 different study areas. These include: 3D animation and digital effects, business management, civil and structural engineering, fashion, hospitality, laboratory science, photography, surveying and spatial information services and vehicle repair.
Past students and graduates of TAFE – Sydney Institute include: Charles Kingsford Smith (Aviator), Ted Noffs (Minister/founder of Wayward Chapel / Ted Noffs Foundation), Hamish Ta-mé (Prize-Winning Photographer) and Alex Perry (Fashion Designer).